The Traveler and the Olive Grove

Connecting and strengthening agriculture and tourism through spatial design in

Innitiated by:

March 2016

Preface Albania is often quoted as a hidden gem. But when I googled ‘agro ’ about a year ago, just because I liked to get out of Tirana, all I found were studies. Of course some great initiatives are there, but you have to look for them. With its amazing food, beautiful mountains and coastlines, this country deserves a much broader public that comes to visit then the ‘off the beaten track tourist’.

The Dutch government sees corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a business case. Albania can still make a choice; go left or go right. Go for mass tourism or for high quality small scale agro tourism. Looking at what already exists in the country and in the region, and looking at the scale that like to do business in, it seems quite clear that there is room for small scale sustainable business concepts.

The Albanian government has a vision. They take the metabolism of the country, a concept developed by Dutch experts, as a starting point for regional urban planning. It means working from an integrated perspective, taking into account local energy, food and water maps before doing your urban planning. Many of the challenges that exist in this country, are actually CSR related. Sustainable tourism therefore really is the sensible thing to do.

In Albania donor interventions often remain stuck in new plans, laws or roundtables. I am therefore really excited about your mission to Qeparo. My hope, as an outcome for this week, is that Dutch and Albanian experts together will be able to identify concrete opportunities for cooperation. Albanian women, farmers and small entrepreneurs are ready for it.

I wish you a fruitful harvest in Qeparo.

Dewi van de Weerd Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Project Team Project Program Friday 11th of March Stakeholder event Tirana Meeting with students and young professionals from Riviera, living in Tirana

Monday 14th and Tuesday the 15th of March Field visits, company visits and interviews in Qeparo, , Himare and Kurvalesh area

Wednesday 16th of March Local stakeholder event, first workshops on business cases in the area and diner event in Qeparo with Arber Togani , winner of Master Chef Albania

Thursday 17th of March Design sessions in small teams on specific challenges and business scenario’s

Friday 18th of March Final design sessions and presentation of the results, including the Riviera signature dish by Arber Togani

Return to Albania in April/May Presentation of the results, plans and partners for next steps and follow-up programs Introduction This project is a direct result of a csr country scan executed by CSR Netherlands in September 2014 examining the state of CSR and sustainability in several sectors in Albania commissioned by the Dutch Embassy and RVO and a mission conducted by Cityförster in the summer of 2014 researching possibilities for sustainable development along the commissioned by Fund Creative Industry.

As a result of further desk studies and extensive contact with stakeholders in Albania Cityförster and CSR Ntherlands have brought together an international team of experts and local key players from government and the different sectors to work together on:

An integrated approach to agricultural and tourism development on the level of “area, value chain and individual company.”

The Ministry of tourism has well thought through strategies and plans in place to develop tourism in Albania. At the same time the agricultural sector is in development with great untouched potential in several areas. The Ministry of Urban development has very clear ideas on how the coastal area’s in Albania can be developed. But do these strategies and opportunities strengthen each other or do they in certain cases threaten one and other? In a period when government and sector organizations, in cooperation with international organizations such as the Worldbank and GIZ are working on the actualization of plans and strategies, individual entrepreneurs are working on sustainable tourism and agriculture and providing practical cases and best practices that really stand out and are inspiration for others to follow.

How can these powers come together and complement each other in such a way that the result is a well-structured and smart approach by local and national government to an integrated and sustainable agricultural and tourism sector? And how can they at the same time stimulate the emergence of best practices based on ideas and business cases that have a strong link to this approach?

Objective of this project is to create insight among high level stakeholders on potential for sustainable alternatives to mass tourism based on worst and best practices elsewhere and in Albania. Furthermore this mission will result in understanding of possibilities and practical implications of implementing a sustainable tourism strategy in a specific location (pilot area), working on development of agro tourism in a narrow sense, on the level of accommodation, as well as in a broader sense by linking agro production, spatial design, infrastructural planning and tourism to show the interdependency as well as the potential to create added value for all three sectors. This project will contribute to the start of a long term development of sustainable (agro) tourism in Albania, ultimately leading to relevant supply for northern European tour operators and thus opening Albania to European market for sustainable tourism.

“No man is an island and the same goes for organizations or even sectors. Connecting and working together will create added value beyond all expectations”

MANAGEMENT & FACILITATION

www.mvonederland.nl MVO [email protected] Meine van der Graaf +31 (0) 650215263

Background Project manager, facilitate workshops and work on new business cases at CSR Netherlands: Networking organization and Centre of Excellence for Dutch companies striving towards corporate social responsibility. It is a fast-growing business network comprised of over 2000 members.

CSR Netherlands offers support to Dutch companies in the Netherlands as well as in international value chains. We support our partners by facilitating networks, transition programs and by developing products and tools.

Contribution Looking forward to contributing to a successful project in which we connect people from different sectors and layers of society. I will facilitate workshops and together with Gojart Smaja, our local power, I will make sure that all experts and local entrepreneurs have everything they need to work on their business plans, define next steps and establish new business relations along the way.

Goals A sustainable alternative to mass tourism and luring destructive agricultural development so that Albania can maintain its pureness and… which make it such a unique country in Europe.

SME’s are the backbone of the intended development. They understand tradition as well as long term economic viability for their business. By working on short and circular value chains, by connecting small and medium sized entrepreneurs form different sectors and connecting them with counterparts from other European countries we intend to boost the development for the area. The results of this program will be a mosaic of investable business scenario’s brought together in a spatial design of the area.

Next step will be to get the plans worked out and executed. “Connecting all existing qualities and value into one complete story makes my day.”

MANAGEMENT & FACILITATION

www.originate.nu Originate [email protected] Fedde Germans +31 (0) 642025120

Background My company is specialised in identifying value and quality in people, organisations and cities. By doing so, we make business cases within the context of a variety of stakeholders who often have many (contradictionary) interests and agenda’s. We are experts in valueing and combining a variety of (technical) expertise into one strategic story and business case. We do this by using multi stakeholder management models and tooling as well as our ‘soft’ skills in building trust between parties.

Contribution I will be joining the team from Wednesday 16th till Friday 18th of march and will be helping the team on formulating the business cases and looking for synergies as well as facilitating parts of the meeting.

Goals My personal goal is to make sure that all parties involved see positive business cases from which they can all benefit both financially and non-financially. “I am eager to work on sustainable business development in Albania. Key to success is that this project is truly demand driven.”

MANAGEMENT & FACILITATION

PUM www.pum.nl Gojart Smaja [email protected]

Background Acting as Representative in Albania for PUM Netherlands Senior Experts and contributing as local consultant for MVO Nederland and other international projects. PUM senior experts (all volunteers) and local representatives provide business advice and technical assistance to organisations in developing countries and emerging markets, taking away bottle necks and facilitating sustainable paths for growth. A strong private sector requires the availability of knowledge. Knowledge to overcome bottlenecks, knowledge to innovate, knowledge to seize business opportunities. PUM has been active since 1978 to help to close the ‘knowledge gap’ that still exists in many countries around the world and that hampers growth in the private sector.

Contribution Assistance in designing mission exploration to create insight among high level stakeholders on potential for sustainable alternatives to mass tourism based on worst and best practices elsewhere and in Albania. Help understand and coordinate real possibilities and practical implications for implementing a sustainable tourism strategy in a specific location, working on development of agro tourism in a narrow sense, on the level of accommodation as well as in a broader sense by linking agro production, spatial design, infrastructural planning and tourism to create added value for all three sectors.

Goals Open new horizons and opportunities for a long term development of sustainable (agro) tourism in Albania, ultimately leading to relevant supply for Northern European and International tour operators and thus opening Albania to European and other International markets for sustainable tourism. “Sustainability is not about doing business differently, but doing business even better.”

TOURISM

www.anvr.nl ANVR [email protected] Gerben Hardeman +31 (0) 638107123

Background Working as a sustainable tourism manager for the ANVR. This is the travel trade association in the Netherlands representing entrepreneurs in outbound tourism and travel market Collectively the members represent approximately 90% of the outbound package travel market. The aim of the ANVR is to combine the strength of its members in pursuit of their common social and economic interest, so that the organization can play a prominent national and international role as the representative of the Dutch travel industry. Responsible tourism is one of the core values ANVR stands for. The ANVR set up a policy that requires all his members to meet a minimum of sustainable practices through a number of established criteria. Through this pro-active and future- oriented policy the ANVR stimulates and motivates its members and supports the development of products and services integrating sustainable tourism to enhance the positive impacts wherever possible and to reduce the negative social, cultural and environmental impacts as much as possible.

Contribution We regard responsible tourism as the creation of better places for people to live and to visit and are convinced that tourism can contribute to reduce negative impacts and enhance positive impacts. As a sustainable tourism manager working for the Dutch association of entrepreneurs in travel I would like to contribute to a dialogue on destinations development since we all have a common interest to provide better experiences for local communities and visitors and to care for people culture and nature, as that is part of the product and service our industry is offering. We see a lot of interest in holidays in the Mediterranean coastal regions and it would be interesting to share and exchange knowledge and experience in the field of responsible tourism.

Goals • Qeparo will be a better place to live in and to visit • Project will lead to commercially and financially viable model for development of sustainable tourism/agriculture • Project will provide insights in multi stakeholder / cross sectoral approach “A successful sustainable project will support the main income of the entrepreneur, it will not 100% depend on tourist support.”

TOURISM

www.sawadee.nl SAWADEE [email protected] Chantal van Gent +31 (0) 20 707 3600

Background Product manager & CSR responsible for product.

Sawadee Reizen offers group tours with individual freedom. Within our portfolio we offer more than 250 tours worldwide. One of them is our beautiful Albania tour. Sawadee aims to give our travellers a special and unique travel experience. Who travels with Sawadee will experience a country from the heart. Our traveller will see, feel and gets in contact with the local people.

Contribution Within the offer of Sawadee we have many CSR projects were we can learn from. I will share bad and best practices. Together with the entrepreneurs I will look at the possibilities to develop CSR projects that will be attractive for tourists. After developing a project in Albania, Sawadee can also contribute with marketing and support the project.

Goals Offer a successful and unforgettable CSR project for our travellers. Collect material and information about the most attractive projects. Stimulate and inspire local people to develop agro tourism. “Developing a tourism destination is an ongoing learning process.”

TOURISM

www.gutundgut.ch gutundgut [email protected] Rafael Enzler +41 79 261 30 87

Background Rafael Enzler has a degree in economics and tourism management and worked for several years internationally as destination manager and consultant in the tourism industry. He is co-founder of gutundgut, a team of business partners of different backgrounds, with broad-based experience in the field of „place making“. Place making is the process of discovering, creating, developing and realizing ideas and concepts for reconstructing place/resorts/destination identities, their defining traits and ‘genius loci’ and subsequently building the sense of place, by efforts and investments in hardware (e.g. infrastructure, buildings), software (e.g. events, stories), orgware (e.g. cooperative organisational structuring) and virtual ware (e.g. symbolic actions, websites).

Contribution Multidimensional approach when designing, thinking and working. Architecture, tourism, culture and communication complement each other in projects as well as in the team. Our approach helps to develop social, economic and ecologic sustainable projects.

Goals Find partners to develop sustainable tourism projects with a strong local support. Make friends in a so far unknown country. “It is in the combination of agricultural development with tourism and spatial development that you can move forward while taking advantage of what makes your area unique.”

AGRICULTURE

www.alterra.wur.nl Alterra Wageningen UR [email protected] Tomek de Ponti +31 (0) 622090147

Background Business Innovator Food Security & Sustainable Productivity at Alterra.

Alterra is the applied research institute for our green living environment and part of Wageningen University & Research centre, one of the leading agricultural research centers in the world. Expertise areas of Alterra include soil, water, climate, spatial and urban development, nature conservation and valorization of waste streams. Agriculture and agricultural development are key areas where we put our expertise into practice.

Contribution Having worked on the integration of agricultural and rural development, the conservation of cultural and agricultural heritage and tourism in Bhutan, a kingdom in the Himalayas, I will contribute to the project by using that experience in the context of development in Albania in general and Qeparo in particular.

Goals • The people of Qeparo and other Albanian counterparts have experienced our team input as very valuable in moving ahead in their development, improving the wellbeing of their families / companies / country / region / landscape. • That the work we will have done with the people of Qeparo and other Albanian counterparts creates that much enthusiasm that we will have formed the basis of at least one project that will implement the plans we have jointly made to succesfully link agricultural and spatial and tourism. • Establishing many new contacts that may lead to even more collaboration with Albanian partners. “Projectplanning is like how a seed will grow. Just change the circumstances, and it will grow automatically...”

AGRICULTURE

www.boerbos.nl Boer Bos [email protected] Paul Bos +31 (0) 650217585

Background Entrepeneur/farmer, experienced in local arrangements. Background and experience in marketing & communication. Consultant for Rabobank about metropolitan agriculture/food projects. Member of InnovationCouncil Meerlanden Company (recycling). Chairman Bouwland Regio Schiphol (part of Urgenda).

Contribution Long term experience in marketing & communication projects. Talent for coaching farmers because of my own background. Experience with working with several in other issues for transition projects (the Netherlands, Middle East & Africa) Broad network in sustainability, circulair economy and companies, like the Dutch bank Rabobank.

Goals • To built up a sustainable network with entrepeneurs/farmers from Albanie and the Netherlands. • To inspire a lot of farmers with new possibilities between farming and tourism. • To connect 10 farmers with the needs of the city/tourism and make concrete arrangements. • To arrange three new concrete deals. “Albania is such a blessed country. Now it’s time to protect and develop these blessings into a professional product.”

ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING

CITYFÖRSTER www.cityfoerster.net Martin Sobota [email protected] | [email protected] Tea Hadzizulfic +31 (0) 10 414 68 41

Background “There is another way.” This is also true for architecture and urban planning, if both are understood as parts of larger systems. CITYFÖRSTER thinks of designing, planning, and building as team work, enabling the best ideas to prevail. For this reason CITYFÖRSTER works as a partnership supported by an interdisciplinary network to develop better solutions for working and learning, housing and living. CITYFÖRSTER has a long history in Albania and has realised a number of signature projects, amongst which are the housing complex AnA in Tirana and Cape Square in Durrës, commonly referred to as “Sfinxit”.

Contribution Together with MVO Nederland and the generous support of the Dutch Creatve Industries Fund we have initiated this Pilot project and have assembled a team of distinct experts from two seemingly opposing fields of expertise: agriculture and tourism. We strongly believe that these two sectors have to work together to make Albania prosper. Our task will be to make sure that they do not conflict but complement each other. As architects and planners we will do this by understanding, moderating, ordering and putting things into the right place.

Goals The outset of this initiative is to provide Albania and Albanians with proof of a viable investment alternative. Albania needs businesses that respect the blessings of this country and provide visitors with a unique experience while developing the local economy and improving the livelyhood of people. Our aim is to prove that agriculture and tourism can co-exist on a commercial level and take the next step together with local stakeholders and investors in making this dream come true.

“A comprehensive thinking is needed to reconsider the local landscape on a new angle.”

LANDSCAPE

www.openfabric.eu Openfabric [email protected] Francesco Garofalo +31 (0) 619307938

Background Founding partner of Openfabric, Francesco is a landscape architect with broad international experience, with a recent focus on Albania.

Openfabric is a young landscape architecture and urbanism practice that is currently engaging in different countries and specializing in different topics as coastal redevelopment, climate mitigation plans, infrastructures and public space design.

Contribution Openfabric with its expertise can bridge the gap between agriculture and spatial planning. A comprehensive thinking is needed to reconsider the local landscape on a new angle. Looking back at the tradition is the starting point to address future potentials of sustainable growth. New pattern of uses are possible, and the change has to be addressed side by side with the locals, in the respect of the natural and cultural heritage, looking at the future generations.

Goals To develop methods of intervention that can be used to sustainably exploit the landscape for agro-touristic purposes. Identify pilot projects and business cases to apply the knowledge of the international team altogether with the local stakeholders.